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Dare and BBH share £10m in Cossette deal

Dare has confirmed it has sold a 65.4 per cent share of the agency to Cossette Communications for an upfront payment of £10 million, as revealed in Campaign (15 June).

Claude Lessard, the Cossette chairman, told Campaign that he now plans
to pull the group's four UK companies - Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy,
Dare, Elvis and Band & Brown - closer together and elect a UK president
to oversee the group within the next two years.

The Dare deal could see the Canadian marketing services group pay in
excess of £30 million for the digital agency over five years.

In 2010, Cossette has the option to increase its ownership to 82.7 per
cent for a sum to be determined by the agency's profit growth, with the
remaining shares to be acquired in 2012.

"I can see multi-discliplined teams working across the group companies,
all of which could be in the same office building in the next two or
three years," Lessard said.

The initial £10 million acquisition includes Bartle Bogle
Hegarty's 30 per cent share in the agency. Dare shares Barclays and
Vodafone with BBH. These relationships will not be affected.

The remainder of the £10 million payment will be shared by Dare's
management team, which remains in place.